WASHINGTON, D.C. — In 2018, Gallup published nearly 100 global reports and articles on what people in more than 140 countries are thinking and feeling. Through our World Poll, Gallup systematically tracks and reports on wellbeing, leadership approval ratings, confidence in national institutions, employment rates and other issues affecting people’s daily lives and, ultimately, the choices they make.

The following list includes Gallup editors’ picks for some of the most important world discoveries — and most highly read international stories — of the year:

World’s Approval of U.S. Leadership Drops to New Low: Germany replaced the U.S. as the top-rated global power in the world in 2017, as approval of U.S. leadership sank to a new low of 30% during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency. Gallup’s report on the ratings of world leaders revealed U.S. alliances and partnerships at risk.

Real Global Unemployment Is 33%, Not 6%: There’s a problem with how the world defines and measures unemployment. About half of the people worldwide who are self-employed are really unemployed. These jobs aren’t really jobs. Gallup investigated the real jobs […]